1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing specification device which is capable of printing simulations which employ spot colors, which are colors that differ from process colors, and more particularly relates to a printing specification method and printing specification device for times of performing printing simulations that employ spot colors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Desktop publishing (DTP) creates a page layout by implementation of image creation, processing, editing, etc. on a processing device such as a personal computer, a workstation or the like. On the basis of this page layout, a film for exposure of a printing plate is created (CEPS), the printing plate is directly written therefrom, and a plate for production printing is created (CTP: Computer-To-Plate).
When proofreading or the like is to be carried out before actual production printing with a printing plate, WYSIWYG functions or the like may be utilized to print out a page layout that is displayed on a monitor from a printout device, such as a page printer or the like (comprehensive layout output).
In usual color printing, the four colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black are employed (i.e., process colors). However, printing is sometimes, depending on requirements, implemented using ink of a color which differs from the process colors (below referred to as a spot color). In recent years, in order to reduce printing costs, two-color printing or the like is sometimes implemented. At such times, particular effects may be obtained by using one of the process colors and a spot color, or two spot colors.
When a two-color printing simulation is performed in order to obtain a color comparison printout with a spot color, if it is only possible to obtain a printout with process colors, it will be difficult to ascertain how the actual printed matter will appear.
Accordingly, a process has been proposed which implements a spot color printing simulation by: actually using printing plates to perform printing of a color chart with spot color inks that are expected to be used in two-color printing; creating a spot color profile (a CMYK-L*a*b* lookup table) by measurements of this color chart; and utilizing this spot color profile with a printer profile (an L*a*b*-C′M′Y′K′ lookup table) to implement CMYK-C′M′Y′K′ conversions with color management functions.
Further, a color comprehensive layout output method has been proposed which replaces each color of a document created using, for example, any two colors of C, M, Y and K with the color of a desired ink (a spot color).
However, there are numerous ink makers, each of whom produces hundreds or thousands of spot colors. Thus, when a spot color is being assigned for performing a printing simulation, it is necessary to input text of a maker name, a spot color name and so forth.
Consequently, if there is an input error such as a spelling mistake or the like, it will not be possible to execute the printing simulation with the desired color. Moreover, there is a problem in that, in order to input text of a spot color name, it is necessary to know the hue and name of a spot color beforehand.
Furthermore, if expected results are not obtained when a previously known spot color is used, it is necessary to search for a similar spot color, which is not a simple task in practice.
There is also a method in which a spot color name is selected from a list of spot colors which have been specified beforehand. However, because such lists are displayed in a different name order for each maker, it is not possible to distinctly judge between the hues. Furthermore, because there are separate lists for each ink maker, selection of a desired spot color from among the different makers is a difficult task.